Join us at 5 p.m. on Friday, June 22nd, for our annual Polish Moon Ride, a unique, family-friendly bike tour through Milwaukee’s historic Polish neighborhoods. The easy, slow roll through the real “Streets of Old Milwaukee” honors the area’s Polish and German history while it celebrates the present-day Latino culture. Be sure to bring the whole family for this ride. The pace and distance are slow enough for all ages and abilities, and the police keep everyone safe. Kids of all ages love the feeling of riding around on these historic streets of old Milwaukee as the sun sets!

Come hungry, because the Polish Moon Ride begins at 5 with delicious Polish and Mexican food. The grill masters from Ben’s Cycle and Milwaukee Bicycle Company will man the barbeque pit, featuring Klements Polish sausage on Sciortino’s buns. Fuel Cafe’s talented Chef Noe and his team and will be serving amazing Mexican food as well. Of course we will have Purple Door ice cream down the street! While you eat, MX Rudigo Norteño, one of Milwaukee’s hottest norteña bands, will get you warmed up for the ride.

The police-led ride starts at 7 with accordion players cranking out polka on the back of cargo bikes along the entire 8-mile, family-friendly ride. Be prepared to be amazed, as the crowd of people on bikes last year stretched 10 city blocks! This is a SLOW ride, so no need for spandex! There will also be lots of short stops along the route as the police hold us at intersections. We will have ride support in case you have a flat or mechanical.

As soon as you get back to the start at Fuel Cafe, the Polish Moon Polka Trio kicks off the after-party with their special Milwaukee style of Polka, so bring shoes you can dance in. Still hungry? No problem, as there will be more great local food and Milwaukee Brewing Company will be pouring Polish Moon Stout and other tasty brews.

The pre-ride party features lively Norteña music, or Mexican Polka. Milwaukee’s formerly Polish immigrants on near south side have shifted to mostly Mexican immigrants now, but luckily both cultures love Polka.

If you have joined us in the past, we haven’t changed much except we are working to add even more accordion players on the ride. Last year we had three Polka players on cargo bikes. We hope to have four accordion meisters this year, all the rest will be the same. You can listen to awesome Norteña music while you stuff yourself with great Mexican and Polish food and ice cream from Purple Door Creamery before the ride. The police-led, family friendly 8-mile ride begins at 7 and will again feature live accordion players pumping out the Polka from the backs of cargo bikes. We will finish back where we started for more food and drink specials while you are entertained by the world famous Polish Moon Polka Trio.

The family friendly ride starts at dusk, under the always full Polish Moon, AKA the Allen-Bradley Clocktower.

If you have never done the ride, please come join us for the casual, slow, mostly flat, family-friendl ride. Be sure to bring your kids (we have special family rates), as the kids on the ride love the chance to ride at night on urban streets. We hire the Milwaukee Police Department to surround us with officers on motorcycles to keep everyone safe and motor vehicle traffic out of the ride.

A beautiful night for a ride ends under a blue moon.

A huge thanks go out to our sponsors! Thanks to the crew at Ben’s Cycle from serving up the hot Klement’s sausage and for the ride support. Thanks to Coast In Bikes for help with the cargo bikes and keeping our accordion players rolling. Thanks to Purple Door Ice Cream for the refreshing cones. And last but not least, thanks to our media sponsors at Urban Milwaukee and 88 Nine Radio Milwaukee for help getting all the people at to the Polish Moon Ride.

We are thankful to have a couple of nice videos of previous rides to help give you a better feel for what the ride is like. The first was done by Richard Beauchamp at the inaugural warm, but foggy Polish Moon Ride. Richard is a friend and a professional photographer who has had a studio in the Walkers Point neighborhood for about 20 years. The video was edited by our bicycle crazy pals at Mainly Editing.

Not familiar with Milwaukee’s Walker’s Point neighborhood? Watch this awesome new video from our sponsor 88Nine Radio Milwaukee. John Gurda gives a great overview of the ‘hood.

Check out our fun

Polish Moon Ride Facebook Event Page, which has interesting quizzes about the history of the area and updates on the ride.

The route will remain the same from last year, but we the start will move to Wayward Kitchen.